Ex-CIA Chief Hayden: Iran Biggest Threat of 2012

Iran will be the top threat in 2012, former CIA Director Michael Hayden predicted Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz over economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed by the West.

"It is the single greatest destabilizing element right now with regards to global security," Hayden told Fox News. "Of all the things that I left, when I was in government, the situation with Iran, and particularly their nuclear program has continued on a trajectory that gets darker with each passing day, week and month. They seem on this inexorable arc in the direction of a nuclear capability and there seems to be nothing that we or other like minded nations can do that will stop them."

Hayden led the CIA from 2006 through 2009. He now runs the Chertoff Group, a security and risk-management company.

He said Iran has blurred it's plans for a long time, which makes it difficult to negotiate.

"This government and its decision-making processes are incredibly opaque. And here we are, as a government trying to get them to change their mind, change their mind in a process that it is very difficult for us to identify where are the leverage points."